I sometimes give Molly a lot of peanut butter (in certain training situations where I need something super yummy/high value) and softer poo seems to be the only side effect. "Too much" is kind of a subjective amount – judging by the capacity of the kongs I have and the tubes I use for peanut butter as training treats, she has gotten around 4 or 5 ounces total of peanut butter at the most.

I read labels like crazy and get organic peanut butter that is made with just peanuts – no added salt, sugar, oil, emulsifiers or preservatives. Some grocery stores (usually Whole Foods-type of places) have a grinder with just peanuts in it and you run the grinder to make as much peanut butter as you want to pay for by weight. The machine just has peanuts in it, nothing else.

mtlu wrote:I sometimes give Molly a lot of peanut butter (in certain training situations where I need something super yummy/high value) and softer poo seems to be the only side effect. "Too much" is kind of a subjective amount – judging by the capacity of the kongs I have and the tubes I use for peanut butter as training treats, she has gotten around 4 or 5 ounces total of peanut butter at the most.

I read labels like crazy and get organic peanut butter that is made with just peanuts – no added salt, sugar, oil, emulsifiers or preservatives. Some grocery stores (usually Whole Foods-type of places) have a grinder with just peanuts in it and you run the grinder to make as much peanut butter as you want to pay for by weight. The machine just has peanuts in it, nothing else.

Yeah that's mainly why I asked, the kongs hold so much! What other Yummy stuff can you put in the kongs?

I get heavy handed sometimes on the Peanut Butter Kong thing. Someone posted on the forum to use Plain Yogurt and freeze it. Gonna give it a try this weekend. The Plain Yogurt is also good for their digestive system and low calorie.

patty wrote:I get heavy handed sometimes on the Peanut Butter Kong thing. Someone posted on the forum to use Plain Yogurt and freeze it. Gonna give it a try this weekend. The Plain Yogurt is also good for their digestive system and low calorie.

When Molly was recovering from her knee surgeries, I put plain yogurt or lowfat cottage cheese into kongs along with pieces of raw green beans and a some biscuits broken up into small pieces and froze them. Since she was in an x-pen (except for potty trips) for several weeks straight with basically zero exercise, I would give her these frozen kongs twice a day and didn't want her to gain too much weight from lack of activity.

You can also freeze the peanut butter ones to make them a but more difficult and last longer for your pup

Pretty much whatever you can think to put in a kong that's okay for your pup to eat will be fine. Depending on what size kongs you have, some of the small sized biscuits can be used to plug the small end so that liquid stuff (like yogurt) can be frozen if you store the kong upright in the freezer. Some people use the really large size ones and fill it with dinner (kibble or even ground up raw meat for those who feed raw). There are quite a few threads about "work to eat" toys and the benefits of incorporating some mental challenge to meal times.

Something I've done in the past with really thick PB is to water it down a bit, plug the kong like suggested, add some kibble to the mixture, and then freeze. Seems to last a long time and uses less PB than you would think.

You can use a baby carrot to plug the hole so it doesn't all run out when you put it in the freezer. I've also used chicken stock with some kibble or veggies in it, frozen, and yogurt with some mashed bananas and a little peanut butter.

Peanut butter is high in fat and calories. So for dogs on crate rest it can cause weight gain, for dogs with sensitive stomachs it can cause GI upset, vomiting, diarrhea. Excessive high fat foods have also been associated with pancreatitis, which can be deadly in rare cases.

HappyPuppy wrote:When I use PB, I just use what I buy for people - does anyone mess with the natural stuff that you have to stir?

We tried it once. We actually poured that extra oil at the top out and used it like that. It caused it to be a little bit more...pasty, I'm not sure what the right word would be. At the time it grossed me out and we haven't gone back...now I'm reconsidering it. I recently found out regular peanut butter (jiffy, peter pan, etc) has corn in it. Why am I feeding my dog a corn free diet, if I'm giving her peanut butter as a treat? Seems counterproductive. The only down fall I now see is price, and if that's the case then maybe my guys will get less of it...which is probably good, since I've been pretty heavy handed (as someone else put it) with the PB in the kong.

I'm going to order some TOTW canned food (12 cans for $25.00) and try to start incorporating that. The only other thing we really use is bananas...even though we know there are many options out there.

Thanks - Jamie (and I just realized I had skipped over mtlu's description).... < I might try some plain/natural stuff in a small jar...

As long as aw're talking about stuffing Kongs: I just froze a kong yesterday with half a can of Before Grain's canned tripe and a few chunks of banana. (I think it's 95% tripe) I've also used baby food mixed with kibble/chopped carrots, or plain yogurt with chopped carrots and/or banana - possibilities are endless!